Listening but no hear hears

16th September 2005, 1:00am
The crowd of 600 in the hall to hear the Prime Minister’s speech included specialist heads who had attended a Department for Education and Skills seminar earlier in the day and had then been made an offer they couldn’t refuse. Would they like to go and listen to a “distinguished visitor”? Intrigued, they were whisked off to Bermondsey. But they may not have liked what they heard. According to this week’s GuardianICM poll, only 6 per cent of heads have any enthusiasm for the academies policy. And they feel Labour is not listening to them. That doesn’t mean, Tony, that they want to listen to you.